Tafolla, C. (2013). What
Can You Do with a Paleta?. New
York, NY: Tricycle
Press.
Reading level: 710L
Interest level: Grades K - 2
“You can dance to the accordion,
you can smell the tacos, but…” Growing up in suburban San Antonio, this was the barrio I knew existed somewhere nearby,
but never got to experience myself until I was a teenager recklessly playing
around on the “other” side of town. This book made me nostalgic for those
blasted hot afternoons in Southtown, spent looking for adventure, but instead
finding only popsicles and shops full of brilliantly colored tissue paper
banners, wooden puppets, and miniature accordions. The images are all warm, soft, and full of
flesh and earth tones – you can almost feel the heat coming off the pages. I
also loved the brightly colored bungalow style houses – very much an iconic
representation of South/central S.A. This book should be in most Texas
elementary school classrooms because it’s sweet, high quality and there seem to
be very few picture books with Mexican themes… which makes little sense, given
the huge population in the U.S. of Mexican descent. You could use this book to
introduce simple Spanish words, such as fruta
or tio.
